No decisions had been made, though there had been a couple of suggestions Leigh and Lucian were considering. The party had finally broken up at four A.M., when Lucian and Anders had decided it was time to go question their rogue.
Before joining everyone at casa bambino, Mortimer had tried to get answers out of the man as to where Laura, Billie, and Kathy were, or if they were even still alive, but the rogue hadn’t been very forthcoming, refusing even to give his name. So after relaxing for a bit, and enjoying his new family, Lucian had decided it was time to get those answers. Anders, Mortimer, Sam, and Justin, as well as a couple of the other men, had gone with him.
Much to Valerie’s relief, everyone else but Rachel and Etienne had left then. But the doctor and her game-creator husband were going to stay for a day or two to help Leigh with the babies, so Valerie had felt it was all right to finally find her bed. It had been an extremely long day and she’d been exhausted, so after letting Roxy out to take care of business, she’d tripped upstairs, stripped off her clothes and fallen into bed. Alone.
Valerie stared at Anders now, taking in the fact that he was fully clothed and on top of the blankets. But when Roxy whined again, she shushed her, and eased carefully out of bed.
Rather than hunt around in her drawers in the dark room or risk turning on a light and waking Anders, Valerie felt around for her clothes from the day before and then tugged them on one at a time. She was so tired, she didn’t even care if they were on inside out. She also didn’t bother brushing her hair or teeth and simply led Roxy out of the room. Valerie had every intention of climbing back into bed the minute Roxy had eaten and done her business. Two hours of sleep just was not enough for her system to function with any kind of clarity. Besides, she deserved a sleep in. She’d bested a bad guy and delivered two babies the day before.
The thought made her smile. The babies were adorable little bundles, and Lucian had been strutting about like the prize bull at the fair as everyone had fawned over them last night. As for Leigh, once she’d been given a couple more bags of blood at the house, all signs of the “off with his head” woman had vanished. She was back to her sweet laughing self. Valerie had been rather relieved by that.
Speak of the devil, Valerie thought as she entered the kitchen/living room and spotted Leigh by the island with one of her little bundles of joy. Baby girl, she realized, noting the pink baby blanket.
“Feeding time?” Valerie asked as she approached.
“Burping time,” Leigh corrected wryly. “Feeding time ended fifteen minutes ago, but she hasn’t burped and won’t settle.”
Valerie nodded, but frowned. “Should you be up and about already? Do you want me to take her?”
“I’m fine,” Leigh assured her with a laugh, and then added wryly, “Immortal, remember? Half a dozen bags of blood and the nanos fixed me right up. I’m good as new.”
Valerie raised her eyebrows. “Impressive.”
“Yeah.” Leigh smiled.
“But you must be tired,” Valerie said.
Leigh shook her head. “We can do without sleep if we pump up the blood consumption.”
“Really?” Valerie asked with amazement and not a little envy.
Leigh nodded. “Of course we try not to do that much. It means more blood, and it’s always best to be conservative on blood use. But sometimes, like now, it’s hard to avoid.”
“Hmmm. Well, that will make motherhood a lot less painful. The lack of sleep is the thing most new mothers and fathers complain about,” Valerie commented and then glanced down to Roxy when she nudged her hand with a wet nose.
“You can let her out,” Leigh said, smiling at Roxy. “I turned off the alarm when I heard you moving around upstairs.”
“Thanks.” Valerie moved to the French doors and opened one to let Roxy out, then closed and leaned against it as she asked Leigh, “Decided on names yet?”
“No,” Leigh admitted with a sigh and cuddled her little girl close briefly. Easing her hold, she admitted, “I really didn’t think it would be this hard. Shouldn’t you just look at them and know what their name should be?”
Valerie chuckled at the suggestion. “Sure. That’s how the seven dwarfs became Sneezy, Bashful, Grumpy, Happy, Dopey, Sleepy, and Doc, isn’t it?”
Leigh grinned, but then wrinkled her nose. “In that case, this little girl should be called Smelly . . . or Poopy. I think it’s diaper-change time.”
“Hmmm. Speaking of . . . I guess I’d better find the waste pick-up bags and go tend to my little girl,” Valerie said, pushing herself away from the door to move into the kitchen and fetch the bags.